Brad Arthur has revealed
Mitchell Moses is in line for a shock return from injury as the Parramatta coach shutdown talk
Clint Gutherson will make a late halves switch at the expense of son, Jake. Moses had successful surgery on a broken finger earlier this week with Arthur confirming a better than expected prognosis for the halfback. In a boost to the Eels’ top four hopes, Moses could be back in two weeks after initially being slated to miss up to a month of football.
“It might only be a couple of weeks,” Arthur said.
He’s got a grey shirt at the moment so he thinks he is the coach, so he’ll be out there giving some cheek. He’ll help the halves and have plenty of input in how we want to play and our video work.”
With Moses sidelined, fullback Clint Gutherson trained in the halves alongside Dylan Brown earlier in the week sparking rumours the skipper would line-up in the No. 7 jumper against Manly on Friday.
The move was seen as a way to relieve Jake from the pressure of starting in the halves given the teenager’s selection has drawn the ire of Eels fans on two separate occasions this season.
“(Gutherson) did a little bit there on Monday, only because Jake didn’t do much on the field on Monday and we trained on Sunday too,” Arthur said.
“It’s hard because I’m his dad but at the end of the day I need to treat him like everyone else at the club and every other player and I need to go into bat for him like any other player.
“He’s done a good job. He deserves his opportunity. It’s not like we are dropping Mitchell for him. It’s the same as when he played earlier in the season. We had injuries.”
Arthur dismissed claims a sternum injury limited Jake’s training on Monday.
In April,
taunts of nepotism were hurled at the father son duo after Jake was named to play in the halves with five-eighth Dylan Brown shifted to centres when Arthur’s outside back stocks were thin due to injury.
Two weeks ago, a section of Eels supporters booed the youngster at Commbank Stadium. A chorus of boos were heard when Jake’s name was announced in the pre-game line-up then again during the match.
I think they booed me too. It’s footy. Every player at every club at some stage (goes through it)… Payne Haas has been booed… they (fans) pay their money, they are entitled to have their opinion and to do or say whatever they want. It doesn’t bother anyone. We are going to 4Pines Park on Friday and I’m sure we are going to cop it out there,” Arthur said.
Arthur said any talk of nepotism was off the mark and in reality the coach struggled not to be too ‘harsh’ on his son compared to the rest of the playing group.
“We’ve had to deal with this all the way through our footy life with Jake, it’s just what it is. I work really hard at trying to treat him like everyone else here. Sometimes that’s tough because you want to be harder on your own kids,” Arthur said
“But I have to give credit to the playing group. They keep me in check with it and make sure he gets treated like any other person in our team … he doesn’t get any privileges or is treated more harshly than anyone else.”
Axed lock forward Nathan Brown, who has been given permission to seek out a new club, was set to earn a recall into Arthur’s side to take on the Sea Eagles after an impressive showing in NSW Cup on the weekend.
But his selection was scuttled by an untimely thumb injury.
“He was getting named in the team this week but had an injury to his thumb so he might be out for a couple of weeks. But he played really well for us in Cup on the weekend,” Arthur said.
